Mining & Minerals

Africa has been synonymous globally for its rich minerals and ores and is home to about 30 percent of the world’s mineral reserves. Geographical and climatic advantages helped the continent immensely. The beginning of foreign investment flow to the continent dates back to the 1860s, when diamond was discovered in the African soils and it has only grown over the centuries.

In Focus

The continent is blessed with abundance when it comes to natural resources and is the world’s largest producer of gold, diamond and platinum. It produces 40% gold and 90% platinum and possesses the largest reserves of diamonds, producing 65% of diamonds by value every year.
It is also rich in chromium, cobalt, uranium, iron, copper, zinc, magnesium and bauxite. The largest reserves of cobalt and uranium are also in Africa. The Democratic Republic of Congo is said to have large untapped reserves of cobalt and coltan.
The African Green Minerals Strategy released this year builds on previous agreements such as the Africa Mining Vision, a framework established by the African Union in 2009 for member nations to harness mining for equitable growth. The strategy advocates for upstream value addition, expanding technical expertise, common external tariffs and tackling Africa’s energy deficit by exploiting the natural minerals for industrialisation.
The world is switching to clean energy, bringing minerals such as nickel, cobalt and lithium to the centre stage. Sub-Saharan Africa is touted to be the leader in mineral production.

Opportunities

Currently, minerals are largely exported from Africa in their raw states to be refined abroad. Increasing processing capacity within Africa to export intermediate goods or final products, known as value addition, could help drive economic development in the continent by creating jobs and resulting in higher tax and income revenues.
Technological innovations and infrastructure incorporating traditional African methods for mining would transform the mining sector and would also lead to increased environmental sustainability.
Many minerals which are raw materials for the latest technologies (such as smartphones) like cobalt and lithium are in abundance in the continent. With the technological world continuously advancing, the demand for these minerals will increase which will bring Africa to the centre stage for supplying the raw materials.